1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically bagging discrete units of ice produced by associated apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many people require particulate ice on a daily basis for the cooling of food and beverages. These people often satisfy their ice requirements by purchasing bagged ice from grocery stores, convenience stores, gas stations, etc. Presently, ice companies produce and bag the particulate ice in a separate location and then deliver the bagged ice to stores. When stores sell ice company produced particulate ice, their profit margins are nominal and, in some instances, only covers the cost of storing and refrigerating the ice. Typically, ice company produced particulate ice costs stores only slightly less than the actual resale price of that ice to the public. Thus, at present, stores sell ice more as a public service than as a profit oriented venture. Accordingly, any apparatus that fits in a store to make, bag, and deliver particulate ice to the public is highly desirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,608 issued to Ray embodies one such apparatus and discloses an ice bagger where an ice maker freezes and cubes a measured amount of water and then drops the cubes directly into a bag placed under a chute connected to the ice maker. Although the Ray apparatus automatically bags particulate ice, its freezing of the measured amount of water followed by the dropping of the cubes directly into the bag causes problems in its operation. Specifically, the freezing of the measured amount of water often results in a less than full harvest of ice which translates into the undesirable consequence of selling ice bags with less ice than the amount printed on the bag. Furthermore, by dropping the ice directly from the ice maker into the bag, unfrozen water enters the bag where it freezes the ice cubes together to form a solid block of ice instead of the desired particulate ice.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,651 issued on May 5, 1992, to Stuart discloses an ice bagger which improves over the Ray apparatus. The ice bagger disclosed in Stuart first delivers the ice made by an ice maker to a hopper before bagging. The hopper includes a drain so that any excess water drains from the ice before it is bagged. The Stuart apparatus includes an auger that transports the ice from the hopper to a chute which delivers the ice into a bag positioned below the chute. A bag conveyor sequentially grasps each individual bag from a bag supply and transports each bag to a position below the chute such that it rests on a spring scale. The auger delivers the ice from hopper and into the bag via the chute until the strain gauge registers the preselected weight of the ice within the bag. A sealer arm then pivots to seal the bag which is then dropped into a merchandiser.
Although the Stuart ice bagger improves over the Ray ice bagger, it also suffers from operational disadvantages. First, the spring scale often provides an inaccurate reading of the actual weight of the ice within the bag. As the ice drops into the bag, it bounces the scale housing which vibrates the spring resulting in inaccurate measurement of the weight of the ice within the bag. Also, both the cold and aging of the spring changes its elasticity which causes it to register different weights dependent upon its temperature and age. Furthermore, the spring has a tendency to stick resulting in the scale sensor tripping after the bag has already overflowed. When that occurs, the sealer arm jams the ice bagger causing the ice bagger to cease producing bagged ice. In addition, the ice within the machine melts to produce a mess which must be cleaned by store personnel.
Second, the scale housing includes doors which open to deposit the ice bags into the merchandiser at exactly the same place within the merchandiser during each delivery. If the ice bags were allowed to accumulate in the same place within the merchandiser, they would eventually stack up to jam the doors resulting in a system malfunction. Accordingly, the Stuart ice bagger requires store personnel to redistribute the bags within the merchandiser on a regular basis.
Finally, and, more importantly, the Stuart ice bagger fails to include an automatic sanitizing system for its hopper. Government regulations require the periodic sanitation of all hoppers used in stores to house non-bagged ice. Furthermore, these regulations require ice baggers which sell ice directly to the public to include automatic sanitation systems for their hoppers. Accordingly, the Stuart ice bagger is unsuitable for use in stores which sell ice directly to the public because it contains no automatic sanitizing system.